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When the ball runs, morale goes off
Qatar 2022 could be one of the most controversial world cups ever. Not only is Qatar a country where many human rights such as women's rights, LGBTQ+, and more, are not guaranteed, but they also did not take into account the requirements for the stadiums needed to host the world cup. That was why during 8 years they constructed 7 new stadiums and completely renewed another that was already constructed. This led to hundreds of people dying. That was why famous people like Shakira, Dua Lipa, and Ibai Llanos publicly manifested their opposition to performing there, yet the world cup is still happening. But, what would have happened if teams didn’t attend? That is what I want to explore in this article.
First, I want to extend myself and talk a little about all the reasons why Qatar should not have been selected as a hosting nation for the world cup for this year. As I previously mentioned, women's rights are not respected in that country, they can not go out and enter certain places without a male chaperone, impeding them to make key life decisions. On the other hand, gay relationships are forbidden because they could spend up to 7 years in prison. Definitely, Qatar does not know what personal freedom is! Not only that but when FIFA chose this country as the 2022 world cup host Qatar did not have the necessary stadiums for it, so they had to build them from scratch. In 2021 “The Guardian” (a British newspaper) announced the death of at least 6,500 workers during the construction of the same stadiums where Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pablo Gavi, and many other soccer players are using while I am writing this. At first, FIFA and Qatar denied these allegations. I cite an interview where the executive boss of the committee that organizes Qatar's World cup (Nasser al Khater) insisted that only three people had died because of labor accidents. “This is something that has to be absolutely clear. Absolutely clear. The number of mortal victims in the stadiums of the World Cup that are related to work is three mortal victims. There are more than 30 mortal victims not related to work”. What a curious thing that some days after the world cup began the maximum boss of the World Cup, Hassan Al-Thawadi, said 400 to 500 migrant workers died as a result of the work made on projects related to the tournament. “I do not have the exact number, that is something that has been discussed. One death is too many deaths, plain and simple”. Previously, Al Thawadi had called “The Guardian” article “a sensationalist headline”. Most of these workers were immigrants who went to Qatar looking for better opportunities, but instead, they got terrible working conditions by working in the desert with really high temperatures and earning a low salary. Because of the reasons previously mentioned before, famous people like Shakira and Dua Lipa refused to participate in the opening show, and others like Ibai Llanos and Toni Kroos decided not to attend the world cup at all. What are your opinions about this year's World Cup's background?
The previously shown reasons lead to an interesting question. What would have happened if players and teams had refused to play at the World Cup? The world cup could not have been played without contestants. I believe the most likely thing would have been for the cup to be postponed. But being postponed meant for some players (like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema) to wait more years for it, years they do not have since they will soon have to retire because of their age. Also, young players (like Pablo Gavi, Jude Bellingham, Darwin Nuñez, and Joao Felix) should have had to wait much longer for their first world cup. Then, what was the right thing to do, lose the world cup or not participate in it because your values are against it? That is where, both morality and desire take a role in this story. Morality and values will be against it, after all, we are talking about human rights and people dying, but your desire will give you the will to participate because essentially the World Cup is the biggest soccer tournament. Then, what had to be done? That is a difficult question to answer. For me, the problem comes from the moment where Qatar was chosen to host the world cup, moreover the problem comes from the moment when it was even considered an option. In those elections the US, South Korea, Japan and Australia were considered as the hosts; in my opinion much better options since they have most stadiums ready and what is most important they have clear human rights. This reflection was not done with the intention of attacking any soccer player, after all they are just doing their job and what they love, but to make the reader think of where our values go when the ball runs.
There is no doubt that this World Cup is surrounded by controversy in many ways, as was discussed through the article. I do not want to repeat myself, specially in the matter of human rights that I consider indisputable in matter of them being violated. Instead, I want to lead this conclusion to moral and values on entertainment. As we could see this world cup, it does not matter what terrible things are behind a competition or contest, since it distracts us, and we find it interesting. Nobody cares about the blood that is behind the stadiums that fans are visiting to see their teams play. Nobody cares about all Qatari women, which rights are violated inside their country. Nobo​​dy cares about people being sent to jail just because they love someone from their same gender. And if you tell me people do, I am sorry to break it to you but if people really cared about all this problematic nobody would be watching games, nobody would be betting and nobody would be talking about this world cup in the positive way in which they are. That is why I could see that when the ball runs, morals go off.